Bill Clinton’s handlers have kept him on short social media leash … until now.
Bill Clinton's Real Twitter (Colbert made it, he agreed): @PrezBillyJeff
— Hunter Ligon (@HunterLigon) April 9, 2013
This won’t end well.
On Saturday, Stephen Colbert interviewed the former president at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting. In the segment that aired Monday night, Colbert convinced Clinton to take the Twitter plunge. He dictated his first tweet to Colbert:
Just spent amazing time with Colbert!
Is he sane? He is cool! #cgiu— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) April 6, 2013
While the tweet was authored by Clinton, we’re guessing he didn’t write his Twitter bio, which includes the sentence, “Stephen Colbert is my BFF.”
Clinton was hesitant at first, telling Colbert he was a little “insecure” about the whole Twitter thing.
"What if you tweet and nobody tweets back? There's nothing worse than a friendless tweeter, right?"- @PrezBillyJeff #CGIU
— Mary Jean (@omalleymj) April 9, 2013
“President Clinton was taken. William Jefferson Clinton was taken. But PrezBillyJeff was available,” said Colbert. Here’s the exchange that followed:
“Would you like to break into the 21st century right now, and send your first tweet?” Colbert asked, sitting ready with a smart phone in hand. The audience erupted in cheers and applause.
A surprised, though slightly amused, Clinton reluctantly agreed to the pitch.
“You’ll type it?” Clinton asked.
“I’ll type it,” Colbert said. “140 characters or less.”
The unverified Twitter account currently has over 35,000 followers and just one tweet.
https://twitter.com/trentbrubaker/status/321602128311365632
Three tweets sent last night and this morning have since been deleted.
Yep, totally #notColbertpretendingtobeme.
Helpful suggestion for Clinton’s staff: If Colbert’s stunt awakened Bubba’s Twitter appetite, do not tell him about direct messages.
Update:
When Stephen Colbert says “jump,” Bill Clinton asks, “How high?”
Here’s how Margaret Thatcher responded when an interviewer asked her to jump.
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) April 8, 2013
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with video of Colbert introducing Clinton to Twitter.
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